Tour de France: Secondary decision: Van der Poel conquers Gelb back

Mathieu van der Poel tortured the last ramp up and then sat completely finished on the asphalt. But the big fight was worth it: the classic king got back the yellow jersey at the Tour de France after only one day. In the end, the tiny of one second was the decisive factor. The Dutch ex-world champion drove to eighth place behind the Irish day winner Ben Healy on the sixth stage over 2015 kilometers from Bayeux to Vire-Normandie in an outlier group.

Van der Poel took over the overall lead again, which he had lost on Wednesday in individual time trial to defending champion Tadej Pogacar. For the Paris Roubaix Champion, it is already the fourth yellow jersey on this year’s tour, and in 2021 he had been the leader for six days.

Pogacar makes it easy

Pogacar, however, spared his strength for other heroic deeds in the mountains and reached the goal 5:27 minutes behind day winner Healy with the other winners. The German hopeful Florian Lipowitz, who had a strong sixth place in the individual time trial on Wednesday, also belonged to the group around Pogacar.

Six smaller mountain ratings and a total of 3500 meters of altitude – the profile was somewhat similar to the classics in the Ardennes and was therefore tailor -made for van der Poel. The cross world champion still has a lot to do on this tour. MVP also fought for points at the intermediate sprint and apparently wants to represent the green jersey for his teammate Jasper Philipsen, who was stuck on the third stage.

In addition to the yellow jersey, Pogacar also cited the points and mountain rating before the start. The Slovenian exceptionally made it possible to see that he was not very interested in the leadership jerseys in the early phase of the tour. “This is a day for the outliers. It is quite possible that you will also get the yellow jersey,” said Pogacar.

Politt controlled speed

And this is how it happened: An eight -man escape group with classic outliers such as Healy or Quinn Simmons from the USA formed around 130 kilometers before the finish line. In the peloton, Pogacar’s teammate Nils Politt controlled the pace with his large engine.

The decision about the day’s victory was 41 kilometers before the finish, when Heally started alone and the co -excessers could no longer follow. Similarly, the IRE had won a stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2023.

Vingegaard bankruptcy has an effect

Pogacar’s rival Jonas Vingegaard also rolled in the favorite group inconspicuously after he had put on a crashing defeat in the individual time trial the day before, which had triggered great horror in the Danish homeland.

“Vingegaard from Pogacar Platt”, wrote the BULAVARDBLATT BT 1:05 minutes, the tour winner from 2022 and 2023 lost on the second-placed Pogacar. “We have to get the time out somewhere if Jonas wants to win the tour,” said his Visma sports director Grischa Niermann.

Perhaps already on Friday when things could get down to business on the seventh stage under the favorites. Over 197 kilometers it goes from Saint-Malo to the Mur-de-Bretagne. A two -kilometer final increase awaits the drivers with an average of 6.9 percent. Incidentally, at the last tour leakage die four years ago, the Poel on the Wall won – and the yellow jersey.